Selana
by Baron von Nobody
Summary: Lately, Naruto has been plagued by nightmares of being chased by something. Why is this happening to him? Does it have something to do with a mysterious woman who came into Naruto's life? Will he ever be freed? Find out...
1. FiRST PuZZLe

In a fine looking bar located within Konoha, we see only one patron sitting at a back table, eating a pizza slice by slice, and at the same, writing on a laptop between bites. The patron stops his typing, and turns toward the audience, revealing Baron von Nobody, his mask half on his face for consumption of the Pizza.

"Well… I did not expect to see you all here…" He finishes off his last slice, gulping it down in one bite, and then adjusts his mask over his face, completely covering it. "Well… since you are all here… pull up a chair as I regale you with a tale of life, adventure, horror, and romance…" Suddenly turns his Laptop toward the audience, making the screen visible. "I must admit… I'm not really finished yet… so may be left with cliffhangers here and there… and of course, it is a Naruto story…

"Anyway… This particular tale is about Naruto after the 4th great Shinobi war... Now… Have you ever had a nightmare where you almost died? Some say that if you die in a nightmare, you die for real… In this tale, Naruto is haunted by ghastly nightmares that frighten even him, and is forced to endure his own private hell session, or die in the process… Meanwhile, he is visited by a woman who could literately be the woman of dreams… The question is, will Naruto be able escape this nightmare, or will his efforts amount to nothing… You'll have to wait and see… now… on with the show!"

**-PRoLoGue-**

**FiRST PuZZLe**

Naruto awoke with a start. Opening his eyes, he looked to see himself in a dreary looking hallway, the walls a putrid color of green and reddish-pink along with white in some areas.

"What the…? How did I get here?" He stated, looking around. He looked up and saw a black abyss that went on forever, yet seemed like a black ceiling, nothing in sight to prove otherwise.

"What is this place?" He asked. He then checked himself to see if he was still alive, only to be shocked that on the top of his head were two fox-like ears. To add to his panic, he felt something moving behind him, and looked to see a set of nine tails swaying back and forth in different directions. Also, the fact that he was dressed in his pajamas, his night cap on top of his head with the fox ears poking out, also threw him off.

"Eh? What the..? Why do I have… don't tell me… does Kurama have something to do with this?"

"_**My… how very interesting... we haven't had a Jinchuuriki come into here for quite a while…**_" an echoic voice rang out.

"Huh? Who said that? Who's out there?" Naruto cried out.

"_**Let's see if you can make it tonight… try and stay alive, little Kitsune… Heheheh**_"

"What the…? What's that all about?" Naruto asked, looking around.

"Hey fox!" a voice cried out.

"Huh?"

"Not that it's my concern, but you're standing there like a dumbass… if you want to live then get moving…" drawled a lazy toned voice.

"Huh? What do you mean if I want to live?" Naruto yelled out.

"We're in a maze right now… as we speak, the outer part of this maze is disappearing. The only way out of the maze is to either fall to your death when the maze vanishes, or reach the exit in the center of the maze… that is, if you are interested in living … otherwise, go ahead stand there like an idiot…" the voice explained.

"Wait… Fall to my death?" Naruto cried out.

"I am not going to get myself killed playing 20 questions with you… look, if you make it, I'll explain more to you later…" the voice stated, the sound of someone running following after.

"Hey! Wait up!" Naruto cried, following after the voice, hoping to out run whatever was coming. He ran down the hallway until he came upon a turn on his right. Seeing as the other side of the wall was where the voice had come from, Naruto decided to take this turn. As he looked around, he saw another hallway that looked just as creepy and disgusting as the last one. Not seeing the voice from earlier, he took a closer look at the wall, finding it to be sort of fleshy looking. Out of curiosity, Naruto decided to touch it, and much to his shock, the wall was like flesh.

"Okay, that is just plain creepy…" Naruto stated, deciding to continue forward. What he didn't notice though was the spot where he touched the wall suddenly began to shift and move, and soon a bulge formed in the wall, forming a face soon followed by hands, and to finish it off, legs. Out of the wall crawled out a body that was completely nude, but genderless. The thing's eye lids and mouth were sealed shut, along with any other orifice on the body, but that was soon not the case as the creature began to try and force its mouth open, the sound of flesh ripping as it finally succeeded, gasping in a huge breath, its breathing raspy. This was soon followed by the eyes next, forcing the fleshy lids to tear apart and open fully, revealing red glowing eyes. The head and face began to re-shift and reshape into something more or less human looking. Behind this creature, another one came out of the wall as well, followed by one next to it, and soon, more began to drag themselves out of the wall on both sides.

Naruto continued to walk, when he suddenly began to hear something from behind him. At first, it sounded like whispers and mumbles, but then he began to make out the words being spoken as it got closer.

"_Kyuuuubi Braaaaaaaat…_" "_Deeeemooooon…_" "_Mooooonsssteeeerrrr…_"

He turned around, and to his shock, he saw hobbling to him these creatures that were nude and thin looking, with skin tones similar to the walls. However, what really got him were the faces of the creatures moving toward him, as they resembled the villagers who used to give him a hard time before he became the Hero of Konoha.

"What in the Hell?" He cried out, wondering what he was looking. He didn't know what they wanted, but by their appearance, and their words, he would assume they were definitely not friendly. He attempted to count how many there were in that hallway and he managed to count up to 30 before losing count, and decided to settle with their being a lot of them in the hall. "Alright then… let's see how you like this… Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled out, as he put his hands in the Ram hand sign. To his surprise, nothing happened.

"Eh? What the…? Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He attempted again, only for the same results to happen, except the creatures were even closer than before. "Ah crap! Shadow Clone Jutsu! Shadow Clone Jutsu! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He chanted in a panic, rapidly forming the hand sign over and over again. "Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh CRAP!" At this point, the creatures were near about upon him, and in his shock and surprise, he ended up stumbling backwards.

"_Deeeemooooonnnn!_" They were a mere few feet away, and Naruto was in shock, his hands still trying to perform a Jutsu, any Jutsu, that could work, but had no success.

Just before the zombie like creatures could reach Naruto, he suddenly felt something grab him by his tail, and pull him up.

"Look man, not that it is any of my concern, but I really wouldn't want to get caught by these things if I were you…" the lazy voice from before said, Naruto now being dragged along by the tail, unable to see his rescuer from behind him.

"It's you, the guy from before! What is going on?" Naruto yelled out.

"No time to talk, I'll explain if we can make it to a place less populated by Undead…" The voice stated, letting Naruto's tail go. Taking that as his cue, Naruto got to his feet, spun around, and blindly followed behind the stranger, adrenaline from the moment causing him to not bother seeing his face.

Naruto saw that they ran out of the hallway, and turned down another corridor, the zombies hot on their tail, so to speak. Suddenly, the whole place began to shake.

"Crap, we got to hurry to the next section! We're almost there!" The stranger stated. They both saw another pass, this one with an archway, and quickly jumped for it. No sooner had they jumped for did the shaking stop, and suddenly, the corridor they were both in suddenly fall apart, dropping the Zombies behind them into the abyss, Naruto's eyes watching in surprise. "Phew… that was close…" the stranger stated, whipping his brow.

"Yeah… thanks for the assist… I owe you… what?" Naruto said, as he finally gotten a good look at his ally. It was what looked like a red-eyed Sheep, only with black arms and black legs, his limbs covered with ancient mythical creature tattoos, a phoenix and a tiger on his arms, and a dragon and a turtle on his legs. He also had giant goat like horns on his head and had a dark colored fleece of wool on his body. "Whoa… what are you, a sheep summon?" Naruto asked.

"Sheep summon? Aside from the horns on my head, I'm just a normal looking man, it is everyone else that looks like sheep… though I have to admit, you're the first fox I've seen in here…" the tattooed sheep stated, taking out a cigarette and lighting it soon after. He then got back up, and began to continue to walk, moving down the new corridor.

'O-kay… a delusional sheep… I can deal with that…' Naruto thought to himself. "Hey wait up… where are we? What is going on? And how did we get here?" Naruto asked.

The sheep sighed out a puff of smoke, keeping his face forward. "I'll answer one question, but then we got to keep moving before this section falls off. Where we are, well, we're kind of dreaming a shared nightmare…"

"Eh? So I'm just dreaming? That's a relief… so it won't matter if I die, I'll just wake up…" Naruto commented, wiping his brow in relief.

"Oh yeah, it's quite a relief… besides the fact that if you die in this nightmare, you die for real… but if you want to test that theory out for yourself, be my guest…" The tattooed sheep stated, breathing out another puff of smoke.

At that mention, Naruto got up and ran up beside the Sheep. "What do mean I'll die for real?"

"Sigh… think of it like Genjutsu… if your mind thinks you're dead, you're dead for real… simple as that… or at least, I think it is, never experienced it myself, nor do I want to…" The sheep stated.

"Damn it, I'm no good with Genjutsu…"Naruto commented.

The two then pass under an archway, and then the tattooed sheep goes into a full sprint run. "No time to talk, time to get moving… I'm not going to stick around and hold your hand and risk getting myself killed… from here to the center platform, you're on your own!"

"Wait! I'm not done asking questions!" Naruto yelled.

"Survive, and I might fill you in!" The sheep finished, turning another corner.

"But where do I find the center platform?" Naruto yelled back, but got no response. "Damn it… alright; better get moving I guess…" he walks out of the archway, and suddenly gets an idea. "Hey… maybe I should try to climb these walls…" Naruto moved to one of the walls, attempting to grab the fleshy wall and scale it. The moment he did though, an arm reached out for him, causing him to fall back on his rear. The arm reached for him for a moment, before trying push off the wall, something climbing out.

"Gah!" Naruto almost panicked, but steeled himself, got to his feet, and began to run, multiple arms reaching for him on both sides of the wall. Naruto managed to turn another corner, finding a forked corridor. He went to go left, but as he did, he found that direction of the hallway filled with the zombie like creatures, only some of them were carrying broken Sake bottles.

"What the? Where the hell did they get those! Oh wait, nightmare, right…" Naruto muttered, and began running down the other way, hands popping out and reaching for him down this hall. At some points, he had to avoid being stabbed or shanked by the broken bottles being wielded by the hands on the walls. Putting his all into his legs, Naruto ran as fast as someone without chakra could, hearing the zombies repeating the same words over and over again.

"_Kyuuuubi Braaaaaaaat…_" "_Deeeemooooon…_" "_Mooooonsssteeeerrrr…_" Naruto went to turn a corner, when suddenly…

*Thud*

Naruto suddenly bumped into someone. He looked up in time to see another man-like-sheep, this one wearing a yellow merchant's vest, and had a lighter fleece of wool.

"Hey buddy, watch where you're going!" The Merchant like sheep yelled, and pushed past Naruto, turning the corner Naruto just came from.

"Hey Wait! Don't go that way!" Naruto yelled out to him, but it was too late, as suddenly…

"AHHH!" There was a scream, followed by a squelching sound, and a small puddle of blood pooling on the ground. Taking this as a cue, Naruto high tailed it, not bothering to look to see the fate of the unfortunate soul who ran to his death. Unfortunately, as Naruto went to turn another corner, he found out why the merchant sheep was running in the opposite direction, as he almost ran into another horde of civilian like zombies, some of them also wielding broken bottles, but also wielding club like sticks and sharp rocks.

"Oh shit…" Naruto muttered, remembering how easily the sheep was torn apart by these things. He went to turn to run, but found all visible exits to be blocked off by the civilian zombies. He backed into the wall, sweat coming down his face.

"_Kyuuuubi Braaaaaaaat…_" "_Deeeemooooon…_" "_Mooooonsssteeeerrrr…_"

"If only I had my chakra… grr…" Naruto was about to get ready to fight, when he suddenly heard a click sound, and he suddenly fell through the wall behind him. Naruto rolled head over heels for a bit, but quickly recovered, landing on his feet. He saw that the passageway was accessible and open for the zombie like creatures, and so, didn't choose to stand and ponder, but instead choose to run and ponder, running down a cleared corridor. 'I can't believe this… you mean to tell me there were hidden passages in this place, and I never bothered to notice it… damn it, I am a sucky Ninja! I could have used that information a while back!' Naruto berated himself. "No time to beat yourself up! Got to keep moving to stay alive!"

"_Kyuuuubi Braaaaaaaat…_" "_Deeeemooooon…_" "_Mooooonsssteeeerrrr…_"

The moaning jeer was starting to get to him, more on the pissing him off getting to him then the saddening him type of getting to him. It was as if these things had nothing better to say then insults that would have stung him way back when he was a child, but now that he was full grown adult, only annoyed him. In fact, now that he got a good look at them, the zombie civilians would probably be what the civilians of Konoha would look like if they had ever decided to gather together to form a mob, and also if they were repulsive nude corpses. These things were obviously trying to target him mentally as well as physically, for as a child, one of his greater fears was if the civilians ever had decided to lash out at him and attack him. Fortunately, that never had happened, and the civilians had settled for ignoring him or giving him glares, over pricing him at markets, or subtly sabotaging him.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake just like when the maze had fallen last time. Finding no sign of any of the archways that signified the split in the mazes, Naruto began to realize that he had wasted too much time, and if he didn't do something, he was going to fall with this maze into that black abyss he saw earlier.

"Damn it all! I have no time to solve this puzzle shit!" Naruto then suddenly turned around, and ran straight toward one of the Zombie Civilians, and punched it right in the face. Despite not having chakra, Naruto still had a good left hook. As the Zombie was falling backwards, Naruto run up its body, stepping down on its face, and then jumped to another zombie's head. He continued to do this rapidly, avoiding any that were wielding a weapon, and stepped stoned on their heads until he reached the top edge of the wall. Using the wall as a vantage point, he over looked the entire maze, which was huge, and saw the center platform that was mentioned, many red carpeted stairs adorning its entrances. Smiling, he quickly ran along the wall, taking the quickest routes toward the center, jumping when needed.

"This is more like it… this solving stuff crap is more Shikamaru's stuff. Simple and plain is fine for me…" Naruto commented, hurrying his pace toward the red carpeted stairs. He quickly jumped for the stairs, and just as he touched the stone floor, the entire maze that surrounded the center platform crumbled and fell into the abyss, what looked like other sheep falling down as well. Naruto sighed in relief, grateful to have survived, even if this was just a dream, if a very vivid one. He turned toward the center platform, and took his first step onto the red carpeted incline; he could suddenly feel his body being empowered again, his chakra slowly returning.

"Ah man, this is much better… Yeah!" Naruto stated, throwing some punches in the air as if to test it out. All his chakra didn't return all at once, but it was a potential amount, and slowly growing. Now he could at least focus chakra into his body or perform a transformation if he needed to.

"Hmm... I wonder if I can access Kurama's chakra…" Naruto then began to focus, looking inside himself for any sign of the 9-tailed Kitsune inside of him. To his shock, there was no sign of the Kyuubi anywhere inside of him. "Huh? What the…?" He then remembered the fox like features on his body, mainly the tails and ears. "I wonder if the way I look has something to do with the fox's absence…" He shook his head. "No time to think about that now… got to get out of here first!" He then began to ascend the red carpeted stairs, his chakra slowly returning to his body, strengthening him.

When he made it to the top of the stairs, he saw that the entire platform was covered by the red carpet, and that the only one there was the tattooed sheep from earlier.

"Well, what you know… you're alive… hooray for you… you're not as dumb as you look…" The sheep stated in a lazy drawled tone.

"Alright, time to explain… what is going on?" Naruto yelled.

"As I mentioned earlier… we are in a dream… think of this as some sort of test I guess…" the sheep answered.

"What for?" Naruto asked.

"The hell I know… I know very little about what is going on as well… all I know is that this is a dream, and whatever happens, if we die in here, we die for real…" The sheep mentioned.

***Dong!* *Dong!* *Dong!***

A loud dinging of a large bell rang throughout the abyss, like the bell of a monastery.

"_**Oh my… only two made it tonight? Oh unfortunate for the others… oh well…**_" The echoic voice from before rang out through the abyss.

"Who the hell are you? Are you the one responsible for us being here?" Naruto yelled out.

"_**I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for that answer until later… if you live that long… for now, it is almost time to wake up… let's see if you two can last that long… good luck!**_"

Suddenly, a giant ornate clock appeared over their heads, the picture of a moon on the bottom half of the clock, the top half a picture resembling the sun, a digital clock in the center of the hands. The hands on the clock began moving counterclockwise, and the digital clock began to count down from 10:00:00.

***Dong!***

**9:59:29**

Suddenly, a moaning sound was heard, and Naruto turned to see that from the stairways, the civilian Zombies were climbing up the steps, brandishing their broken bottles, sharp rocks, and clubs.

"Oh crap… these guys again?" Naruto yelled.

"And there is more of them than last time… whoop de doo… " The sheep sarcastically cheered with little enthusiasm.

"_**Just try and clear this area before waking up… I dare you…**_" The voice taunted.

"Ah man… there is so many of them… alright… let's hope I got enough of my chakra back to do this… **Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Suddenly, in a large puff of smoke, a ring of 10 Naruto's appeared, surrounding both Naruto and the tattooed sheep, covering them both from all sides.

"Huh… nice to know you're not completely useless…" the sheep stated. Suddenly, the sheep brought up his arm that had the tiger tattoo on it, slammed it into the ground, and when he brought it back up, he had a gauntlet made of rock with three stone blades attached, giving it a claw like look.

The Naruto clones charged forward, the only real strategy was to take as many of the zombie civilians down before going poof, or to protect the original Naruto. As one, they charged forward, their hands their only weapon. One clone gave a good hard punch to one zombie's face, and then followed up with sweep kicking down and then grabbing it by the ankles and swings it around like a fleshy club, taking out 3 more Zombies. He then proceeds to take the one in his grasp, and bash its head against the red floor, popping it open like a pumpkin.

The tattooed sheep didn't hide behind the Naruto clones, and jumped over the meager defense, charging for one Zombie in the back ground. With ease, his stone clawed hand decapitated the head of three zombies in his passing, and then twisting around, he gouged the bladed stone into the chest of another one behind him. He lifted it off the ground, the zombie still trying to attack him with a sharp rock, and then tossed it into the head of another zombie approaching him, slamming their skulls together.

As for one of the Naruto clones, he jumped into the air of another zombie, avoiding getting shank by a broken bottle, and grabbed the zombies head during his fall, and slammed it into the ground, crushing it with ease.

One zombie broke through the Naruto clone defense, running for the real Naruto with a sharp rock, when Naruto caught the hand holding the rock, and then kicked the zombie into the air, the sharp rock falling out of its hands. The zombie floated in the air for a bit, but soon, a bunch of Naruto clones jumped into it, and finally slammed it into the ground. The real Naruto then picked up the sharp rock, and decided to use it as a makeshift Kunai, and to help out, he performed another Shadow Clone Jutsu summoning 5 of him this time, each with a Sharp rock to use. They all charged forward, slashing at any zombie that was in their way.

**3:15:13**

For almost five minutes did the Zombie horde last against the combined efforts of Naruto and the tattooed sheep. All around the two combatants, 1000s of zombie corpses lined the area. Naruto, having only half his chakra fully return, was almost disappointed that the zombie like creatures didn't last for as long as the timer. Okay, sure, they were persistent to the point of annoying due to being able to take a few hits without dying, able to feel no pain, and were able to keep moving when limbs were decapitated. The only easy part of it was the fact they had no sense of self preservation, and they had the strength of a very strong civilian, not really making them a threat.

"Man… that was pathetic… these guys aren't as scary when you got your chakra back!" Naruto boasted.

"Don't get to cocky yet… this is a survival challenge… and we still have only 3 minutes to go… I'm guessing their going to send something else out now…" The sheep stated.

What neither of them noticed was that the zombie parts were starting to move, and were slowly putting themselves together…

"Hee… Man, with our combined strength, we'll be able to take on anything sent our wa…!"

***Crash**Squelch***

Suddenly, a giant bleeding skinless hand appeared and dropped down right on top of Naruto, effectively squashing him. The giant hand raised off the ground, revealing Naruto, his body covered in blood and flat to the ground, his bones crumbled or sticking out of his flesh, and his eyes were hollow and his expression shocked, showing signs that Naruto was dead.

Suddenly, one of Naruto's 9 tails disintegrated, and when it was completely gone, the hand came back down on Naruto, as if in reverse, and then when it lifted back up, it showed Naruto completely unharmed and with one less tail on his person. When time stopped rewinding, Naruto's eyes quickly flashed with realization, and he quickly jumped out of the way of the incoming giant bloody hand, avoiding getting crushed.

"What the, did… did I just…" Naruto questioned.

"Die? Yes… in fact, you were a bloody mess… and then your tail disappeared, and everything went backwards, and you came out all peaches and sunshine… not a bad trick you got there…" The sheep lazily intoned. "By the way… not that it's my concern, but you're missing a tail… and there is the matter of the thing that now killed you…"

Naruto would have taken noticed to his tail, but he quickly turned his attention to the other thing currently occupying the area. It was huge; it looked like the upper half of a human put through a shredder and survived. Upon a closer look and observation, one could see it was actually made up of a bunch of the zombie's body parts linked together to form one big bloody looking body, some of the pieces falling off from time to time.

**Amalgamation Beast, Nightmare Monster of the First Puzzle…**

"_**You two survived the army, but now you have to survive the nightmare… good luck…**_" The voice stated sarcastically.

**2:48:09**

The beast roared, blood and miscellaneous body parts flying from its mouth toward the two. To avoid getting seriously injured, the two jumped out of the way of the body part blast, avoiding getting hit.

"Alright ugly, let's see how you like this! **Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!**"

In multiple puffs of smoke, a whole horde of Naruto's appeared, all of them wielding the sharps stones, ready to retaliate against the beast. The amalgamation roared out at the large crowd, and began to swipe its gigantic claws at the clones, destroying them upon impact.

The tattooed sheep jumped into the air, and brought the arm with the phoenix tattoo forward. Suddenly, a ball of flame began to gather in his hand from the very tattoo on his arm, and when it was sizable enough, he aimed it toward the large beast and unleashed a stream of fire upon the creature, striking it at its face. The creature roared as it was engulfed in the flames, but then suddenly, a giant burnt decaying arm reached out from the inferno, and grasped the tattooed sheep, halting the flames.

"Gah!" The sheep gasped in pain, as he felt his body begin to get crushed under the force of the beast's grip. Suddenly, a bunch of Naruto's jumped up onto the arm, and began to hack at the fingers in the hopes to save the sheep.

"YAH!" The Naruto's yelled. They stabbed and slashed at the limb, but soon came to realize it wasn't one being, but a multiple of zombie parts put together, and thus, they couldn't get it the giant arm to let go. "Damn it… if only I had my proper gear!" He looked to the sheep, who was greatly struggling. Suddenly, there was the sound of a blade, and then it was followed by three stone blades sticking out of the hand, which then moved with great speed, severing all the fingers that were holding the sheep in place, revealing that the sheep had used the stone claws again. Suddenly, the sheep dropped to one knee, heavily breathing.

"*Huff* well, that was close, I guess… but damn, that used a lot of chakra…" The sheep stated. Before he could do anything else though, the remains of the large hand were about to drop down on top of him, but he was suddenly pushed aside by one of Naruto's clones. "Huh… thanks … guess that makes us even…" The sheep stated in a bored tone.

"This thing just won't go down. Every time we hit it, it rejuvenates. We need to hit it with something hard!" Naruto yelled.

"Do you happen to have anything like that?" The sheep asked.

"I do, but I don't have enough chakra to use it…" Naruto said.

"Well, in that case… do you think you can have your clones try and disorient it, or at least knock it off balance?" Asked the sheep.

The Naruto's then stared at the amalgamation, and then gave a smirk. "Not a problem… distraction is my specialty… CHARGE!" one of the Naruto yelled, and all at once, the army charged for the beast, the nightmare thrashing about at the clones, dispelling many of them, but the rest jumping and clinging to what could considered its multiple body parts, being swung around but not letting go.

As the clones held firm to this beast, the tattooed sheep lifted his leg with the tortoise tattoo up, and suddenly kicked it up, aiming it toward the beast, keeping balanced to not fall. He then began to focus his energy, a slight strain appearing on his sheep like face. When his red eyes opened, they focused solely not on the creature before him, or even the clones being battered around, but focused past them, and beyond them, as if looking at something on a mental level. He then dropped his leg down, and the moment he did, red liquid began to spurt out of the ground, and widened until it was a wave.

"The ground is covered in blood… guess it's time to wash it away. HEY KID… IF YOU'RE IN THAT HUGE GROUP, I'D CONSIDER MOVING! Unless you want to drown in blood, then go ahead and stay where you're at!" The sheep yelled out, and then launched the wave forward, the tide growing larger as it progressed toward the beast and clones. Instantly, the other Naruto's reacted, jumping clear of the bloody water's path. The red wave rammed right into the beast, pushing it back to the edge, but the creature held its ground, staying on the platform, and even began to try and retaliate against the water.

"Go down already you bastard!" cried Naruto, who was jumping toward the beast's head, a clone flanking his right, a Rasengan formed in his hand. He thrusted the swirling ball into the beast's head, and the effect was immediate as a concussive spiral force slammed into the amalgamations' head, sending the random body parts flying, and the whole beast to be sent over the edge, only a claw hanging on saving it from the abyss down below.

**00:00:01**

***Dong!* *Dong!* *Dong!***

"What the…?" Naruto inquiries.

Suddenly, an intricately decorated double door appears in the center of the platform, bright light shining down upon it.

"Okay… that's our cue to leave… if you want, be my guest… but as for… I'm gone…" The sheep stated, as he began to run for the door, leaving Naruto standing there.

"Huh?" Naruto would have asked, but then he felt the platform shake, and he looked back and saw the creature begin to climb back up again. Now relying on instinct, Naruto also began to run to the door, not even bothering to look back on the creature as it began to crawl after him, its head beginning to partially regenerate. Naruto watched as the Sheep made it to the door, and easily walked inside, closing the door behind him. The creature behind Naruto seemed to have built up speed, starting to get closer and closer to Naruto's retreating form. "Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap Crap CRAP!" Naruto lunged forward for the door, his hand barely making it to the door handle. "Success!"

Not bothering to hesitate, Naruto opened the door, a light shining on the other side. As he went to walk inside, the Beast roared out at him, catching his attention.

"Shit! Leave me alone!" Naruto yelled, and suddenly, light poured in from the door, striking at the Beast, causing to roar in agonizing pain until it exploded into particles, scattered into the abyss. Naruto blinked in surprise, and then he began to hear the sounds of Singing, like a heavenly choir singing for his victory.

"_**Congratulations! You made it through the first night… See you tomorrow!**_" the ominous voice stated, as suddenly Naruto was pushed from this realm and through the door.

23:32:46:34:58:29:23:49:01:32:46:34:58:29:23:49:12:46:34:58:29:23:49:00: 58:29:23:49:12:46:34:58:29

**6:45:34 AM**

His eyes opened with a start, and sprung from his bed, breathing heavily from the experience.

"Man… what a crazy dream… no, more like a nightmare… I guess Kakashi is right, I shouldn't eat Chili Lime flavored instant ramen just before bed…" Looks at the container on the counter. "Especially when it is passed the expiration date…"

Naruto Uzumaki:

Jonin of Konohagakure (Village Hidden in the Leaves)

Age: 25

Goal: Become the Hokage of his village.

Current Relationships: Is Double Dating Sakura and Hinata… both know this, and so, it isn't two timing.

Naruto stretched his back, and scowled when he felt something wet below, coming to a realization that for the first time since he was four years old, he wet the bed. It was a scary nightmare indeed… only now; Naruto can't seem to recall what happened in it… all he could remember was he was being chased by something.

He growled and grumbled, taking his sheets off the bed, and setting them in the Laundry for later. He then set himself to take a shower, and put on a cleaner pair of underwear, but just as he was about to jump in, he looked at his reflection, and he saw that… he looked completely normal. He had no clue why he had to check that, but for some reason, he felt glad he did.

For a long while now, Naruto had worked something out with Sakura and Hinata. Because of the neglect most of his life, he was pretty unsure of love, so he convinced both Sakura and Hinata to let him try to date both of them for a trial period, seeing who he might like to spend the rest of his life with. He has to admit, he has loved his time with both of them, and always looks forward to going on a date with them… separate dates of course, and always brought to the notice of the other girl before making major plans.

However… nowadays, it seemed like both girls were getting tired of waiting, and it also seemed like neither of them wanted to be second fiddle to the other. Lately, Naruto has been worried that he may have to choose between the two of them, which he couldn't bring himself to do. After spending time with both of them, the girl that has always had a secret crush on him, and the girl that has always been his love interest at first sight, he didn't want to lose either of them to heartbreak.

After his shower, he got dressed, prepared for the day, forgetting completely about the nightmare. However, Naruto was completely unaware of the threat that now loomed in his sleep.

**To be continued…**

**Nobody: I know what you all are thinking… I need to finish my other works… problem is, my mind is loaded with stuff, and I have throw it out there before I lose interest in it… well, I hope you readers enjoy this new fic… I am certainly hoping to… Please Review.**

**Signed,**

**Mr. Nobody**


	2. FiRST DaTe aND MSySTeRiouS WoMaN

Back in a fine looking bar, we see Baron von Nobody again, this time, listening to a small radio, the broadcast of a Kunoichi Fighting Tournament being played, Nobody cheering, a betting ticket in his hand, completely ignoring the Laptop on the table next to him.

"**And Sweetest Taboo manages to catch Honey Dew in an Earth style Jutsu hold, restraining her foot movements…" **the radio announces like a broadcaster.

"Come on Honey Dew, Break the hold and kick her ass!" Nobody yells out.

"**Honey Dew Struggles, she manages to free one leg, however, this reprieve seems to have given Taboo enough time to perform a long string of hand signs to deliver her finishing Jutsu!"**

"No no NO!" Nobody yells, holding the side of his head.

"**Taboo launches an earth style Jutsu, and it flies toward Honey Dew's face… she is sent flying to the ropes, and knocked down… it looks like she is down for the count, and the referee is counting…"**

"Come on Honey Dew! Get up baby! Don't let me down!" Nobody yells.

"**And it is over, a win by a knock out! Sweetest Taboo wins!"** The announcer yells.

"Aw man… oh well, lost that bet…" Nobody stated, tearing up his betting card. He then looks toward the audience, finally taking notice of them. "OH, my apologies… got a bit distracted… getting back work…" He states, turning off the radio, and turning his laptop toward the audience.

"So anyway, welcome back… as we last left Naruto, he just woke up from a terrifying nightmare, and now, we are about to see how the following day goes… hope you all enjoy!"

**-CHaPTeR FiRST-**

**FiRST DaTe aND MSySTeRiouS WoMaN**

**11:48:56 AM**

**Dango Bar…**

Naruto stares off into space, his finger playing with the dango hanging on the stick in his other hand, twirling it around a few times.

"…uto? Are you listening?" a voice says in the background, while Naruto continues to stare at his finger playing with the dango. "NARUTO!"

Naruto snaps out of his haze, and looks up at the person he was sitting with for his date. In front of him was his former teammate and childhood crush, Sakura Haruno.

Sakura Haruno:

Medic Jonin of Konohagakure

Age: 24

Goal: To be as good a Kunoichi as her Sensei, Tsunade.

Current Relationships: Naruto.

"Umm… I'm sorry, were you saying something Sakura?" Naruto nervously asked, scratching the back of his head.

Sakura intensely stared at Naruto, studying him, but then her features changed to soft and concern. "Naruto, are you alright? You seem less… focused today." Sakura asked.

"Sigh… I'm fine Sakura… I've just had a really bad dream last night… that's all…" Naruto groaned, a weak smile adorning his face.

Sakura continued to stare at Naruto, and then scowled. "Idiot…" And she gave his head a small thump. "You were eating expired ramen late in the night again, weren't you? I told you that you shouldn't eat so late … It is bad for your digestive system."

Naruto rubbed his head over the area she bopped him at. Compared to the hits Sakura would inflict on him back then, the hits she would give him now would be considered love taps. "Yeah, I know… but yesterday was just so boring… I mean, ever since Tsunade put me on suspension..."

"Well, you did flip off that noble woman…" Sakura stated.

"She had it coming to her… I mean, continuously losing that cat and hiring Shinobi to catch it after all these years… I was pissed, I think that cat even developed ninja skills over all these years… and now I got to suffer through a month's worth of D rank missions…" Naruto couldn't help but groan.

"Well, maybe next time, you'll know how to be a bit more tact…" Sakura commented sternly. "So, this bad dream, what exactly happened?" She asked with a bit of concern.

"The funny thing is… I can't exactly remember… all I know was I was being chased by something… I just know that I've never felt so… scared before…"

"Sigh… It must have been spoiled Ramen then… well, maybe tonight, you won't try to eat Ramen so late at night…" Sakura huffed. She then finished her Dango, and began to get up. "I've got to go… I've got a mission! I'll catch you later Naruto…" She then walked up to him, and went to kiss his lips, but Naruto turned his face so that she kissed his cheek. Sakura sighed, slightly scowling, and began to walk off without another word.

Naruto knew he just pissed her off just now, but he just didn't feel comfortable directly kissing either of the girls he was dating. The whole time the three have been dating, Naruto has yet to take any initiative or make a move on either of the girls. If it was just one girl he was gunning for, he wouldn't have too much problems and wouldn't feel so bad. However, both of the girls he was aiming for became quite close to his heart, and if he ended up losing either of them, he would be devastated.

"Damn it… why can't I do this?" Naruto questioned himself. He then noticed the time. "Shit!" He quickly stuffed down his Dango, nearly choking on it. "I'm going to be late for that damn D-rank mission!" He then quickly ran out of the Dango bar.

**8:36:13 PM**

**Bo Peep Bar and Grill**

The Bo Peep Bar and grill was the newest bar that opened up in Konoha, having all sorts of selections liquor and drinks for customers to choose from and the patrons had plenty of meals and food choices to select. In other words, this was a day and night bar and grill that was a perfect spot for Naruto and his buddies to go to when they wanted to just hang out. Naruto would still remain a patron to Ichiraku Ramen for his lunches and meals, much to Teuchi and Ayame's relief, even claiming the bar had sucky Ramen. But all his buddies hanged out here at night now days, so he started to become a recurring patron. The owners of the bar, Monbe and Lena, also worked as employees as well, as their business was just starting out and they hadn't hired that many people yet.

Monbe was the cook and bartender. He was a lean man with black hair that was slicked back, and had pale skin that matched pretty well with his bartender outfit, which was a black vest, a white dress shirt, and a black pair of pants. The only thing that made him really weird was he was always wearing sunglasses over his eyes. He was a nice guy, if a bit over friendly for a bartender.

Lena worked as a waitress and occasional barmaid. A lot of guys would come to this bar just to see her. She was fit, and had curves in all the right places. She had brown hair that she wore back in a ponytail, and wore a white button shirt that would show plenty of cleavage in a v-shape, a black skirt that went to her knees, and a pair of black high heeled shoes, along with proper accessories like bracelets and earrings. Again, the only real weird thing about her was the sunglasses she wore, much like her male partner. She had a heartwarming personality that would cause any lesser man to melt like butter in her hands, and would often be a good person to ask advice from, or hear the latest gossip. She would also work incredibly hard in the bar, and would sometimes berate Monbe for his antics, all in friendly gesture.

Here Naruto was, after working 7 D-Rank missions in a row today, and he was beaten up tired. He sat at his usual table with his buddies from the academy days, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba, all of them with cups of Sake and a big plate of grilled beef on a stick for the table, which was currently being hogged down by Choji.

"Dude… major fails there…" Kiba chastised Naruto. "I mean… It's bad enough your 'double' dating, one of the girls being my former Teammate… but if you are not willing to be man enough to please both women, you shouldn't have attempted at all!"

Kiba Inuzuka:

Tracker Jonin of Konohagakure

Age: 24

Goal: Become the head of his clan.

Current Relationships: Single, also a skirt Chaser.

Akamaru was currently waiting outside of the bar for his master, as no animals were allowed in the bar.

"I know… It's just that… I didn't expect to fall for both of them so hard… and now I feel bad every time I try to do something… it is really starting to become very stressful… that, and this shit load of D-ranks."

"Sigh… man, women are so troublesome…" Shikamaru commented.

Shikamaru Nara:

Jonin of Konohagakure

Age: 24

Goal: Live to retirement, find a woman not too pretty but not too ugly, have two kids, work until kids are successful in their own work, and spend the rest of his days in lax peace playing Shoji.

Current Relationships: Single. On the bench with Temari Sabaku

"*Munch* In all honesty, I don't have any helpful advice for this situation… *Munch* If you like both women, why not tell them that, and try to work something out with them…" Choji commented.

Choji Akimichi:

Jonin of Konohagakure

Age: 24

Goal: Protect his friends and make his family proud.

Current Relationships: Single

"I can't do that… Sakura would get angry, and Hinata… well, I honestly don't want to see her cry…" Naruto commented miserably.

"Damn straight you better not make her cry… or I'd kick your two timing ass!" Kiba growled.

Naruto groaned.

"See… this is why I try to avoid relationships with women too soon… they are just too troublesome to deal with at this point in life… better to wait when you get certain complications out of the way…" Shikamaru commented.

"But dude, didn't you try dating with that sand Kunoichi a while back…" Kiba commented.

"It didn't work out, and we both agreed we wanted some space… that, and she practically lives in a whole other country… long distance relationships never work out…"

"*Munch* That's too bad… it looked like you really liked her…" Choji commented.

"Well… try to imagine if Suna went to war with Konoha again… it would be an incredibly awkward situation for both of us…" Shikamaru stated.

"*Munch* I don't think any village will want to fight with Konoha after what Naruto pulled in the last war…" Choji stated.

"Dude… don't Jinx it… people will always want a fight… they just need a good enough reason to fight…" Kiba commented.

"Can I get you boys anything else?" Lena came and asked a sweet smile on her face.

"Another plate of Beef on a stick please!" Choji ordered, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"I'll take some more Sake…" Kiba stated.

"Nothing more for me…" Shikamaru commented.

"I'll take some Sake too…" Naruto remarked.

"Coming right up…" Lena said, and walked off with their orders.

As Lena left, Naruto let out a weary sigh.

"Hey, you okay Naruto… you seem a little out of it…" Choji asked, concerned.

"Well… I had a horrible nightmare last night…" Naruto commented.

"Dude… that is weak…" Kiba stated.

"I'm serious… I was so scared, I actually wet the bed… err… I mean…" Naruto tried to stop his sentence, but the damage was already done.

"Woah man… you actually wet the bed? Hahahaha!" Kiba busted out laughing, slamming the table a bit.

"Seriously… too much information… I did not need to know that…" Shikamaru stated.

"So what was this dream about?" Choji asked, still waiting on his beef on a stick.

"That's the frustrating part… I can't remember… All I know is that… I was being chased by something… and I think I died…" Naruto stated.

"Hey, maybe he was dreaming about his current relationships." Kiba joked. "I mean, I know Sakura would want you dead if you rejected her…"

"Not funny you ass…" Naruto commented. "Sigh… I just know that I've been thrown off the entire day because of it… I don't even have the energy to train today…"

"Wow… that is serious…" Choji commented. "I mean, you're a power house… if you're this low on energy, you should probably head home to rest up…"

"Nah… I think I'm good for a few more hours… I think I just got to take it easy…" Naruto stated.

"Maybe you were dreading starting the D-Rank missions last night and it carried over into your bad dream…" Shikamaru added.

"Could be that… certainly a better reason than eating Ramen last night… right?" Naruto stated.

"Indeed… there is nothing wrong with a little late night snack…" Choji commented, slightly drooling at the mouth.

"By the way guy's… did you hear?" Shikamaru's expression suddenly became grave.

"Hear what?" Kiba asked.

Shikamaru then took out a cigarette, lit it up, and began to breathe on it. "Apparently… there has been a string of murders lately…"

"Say what? In Konoha? How'd it happen?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not a 100% sure about the details… but I overheard some Shinobi officials say the victims were killed in their sleep with severe trauma, and no sign of visible wounds… one even said a victim's face was frozen in anguish… the officials think it might be Genjutsu related … However, there hasn't been anything to prove it yet…"

"Aw man… that is messed up… I knew Genjutsu could be used to put someone in a fear induced coma, but I didn't think someone could actually kill someone with Genjutsu alone…" Naruto stated.

"Dude, did you forget about that Kurama girl… what was her name… Yakumo?" Kiba stated, remembering the incident with his Sensei.

"And also don't forget what an Uchiha is capable of…" Shikamaru remarked. "The most recent death I've heard about was the merchant who sells cheap Konoha Souvenirs."

"Oh man… that is only a few blocks from my clan compound…"Kiba stated, now feeling slightly nervous.

"Plus… I've heard each and every victim was male…" Shikamaru finished.

The table was silent, all of them staring at Shikamaru nervously.

"Here are your orders boys!" Lena returned with a platter with two more bottles of Sake and another big plate of Beef on a stick, completely breaking the intensity of the moment.

Shikamaru then sighed, breathing out a puff of smoke. "Well… if anything, so far, only civilian causalities have been hit… so I think you guys are somewhat safe… anyway… I got to get going… I got to wake up early in the morning tomorrow… " Shikamaru commented, getting up from his seat.

"Eh? What for?" Kiba asked.

"Lady Hokage wants me to have my own squad… it's a pain…" Shikamaru drawled.

"Woah, you're getting your own squad? How come I wasn't selected to be a Jonin Instructor?" Kiba asked.

Everyone then just blankly stared at Kiba, as if saying, 'Do you really have to ask…'

"Anyway… it's not legit yet… got to first put the kids through an over complicated exam…" Shikamaru stated.

"And knowing you, you'll try everything in your power to make sure they fail…" Naruto commented.

"Yeah, that's basic idea…" Shikamaru stated.

"Man, you're such a lazy ass…" Kiba chortled.

Shikamaru was about to step away, but then stopped midway. "Watch your backs guy's… I don't want to find out one of my drinking buddies had wound up dead in his bed…"He then said his goodbyes, taking his leave. The group of friends hung out a bit longer, talking about their missions, their day to day life, and whatever else they could talk about, avoiding the subject about Shikamaru's grim news.

**10:11:55 PM**

"Well, we got to get going… you going to be heading home soon Naruto?" Choji asked with a full stomach, Kiba getting up as well.

"Nah… I'm going to go ahead and stick around for a bit…" Naruto confirmed.

"Alright… We'll see you tomorrow man… and Naruto… hurry up and make your damn decision before you hurt those girls' worst then you already are, or just go it alone, and break it off with both…" Kiba said, before heading out.

"Take care Naruto… get a good night's sleep…" Choji said, patting Naruto on the shoulder.

"I'll try…" Naruto said.

"Can I get you anything else sir?" Lena asked.

"You know… I think I'll have some strawberry Daifuku if you would…" Naruto pleaded.

"Coming right up!" Lena chirped, before walking off to make the order.

While she was gone, Naruto got up from his seat, and began to walk toward the bathroom to take care of business. After finishing up his business, he went to the bathroom sink to wash his hands. While doing so, he looked into the mirror, noticing how tired he looked. Rubbing his eyes, he splashed his face with some water, and dried his face. Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, the bathroom walls looked like they were covered in blood and his reflection that was looking at him had fox ears on his head and eight tails flowing behind him, his eyes blood red. As suddenly as the image came, it instantly vanished from sight, everything returning to normal, but was enough to cause Naruto to jump back in fear.

"Woah… what was that?" Naruto yelled out.

'_***Snicker* What did you see…?**_' a voice spoke out.

"…?" Naruto was speechless, as he knew he heard that voice from somewhere before.

'_**Tonight, you'll be heading to the SeCoND PuZZLe, The Theatre of Tragedy… be sure to bring your pajamas… *Snickers* and keep an eye out for flames…**_'

"Huh? What was that just now?" and as soon as Naruto saw it, he instantly forgot it. "Oh well…"

Naruto moved back to his table, just in time for his strawberry dessert to arrive. He looked down at the little buns filled with Bean paste and whole strawberries, and sighed. Even though Sakura and Hinata had agreed to give him the opportunity to date them both, he was now coming to regret it the further along he had come. Nowadays, his mind was a jumbled mess, and he couldn't concentrate on anything. In fact, his frustration had gotten to him in an earlier, and he took it out on the Lord's Mistress during an envoy mission for Konoha. Fortunately, Konoha had only lost the Mistress in hiring them for cat catching, much to every leaf Shinobi's delight. However, Naruto was to be reprimanded for cussing out a noble and then flipping her off, and so, Tsunade put him on a 1 month probation in which he had to accept nothing but D-Ranks for that time unless under an emergency situation. Naruto was at a point in his life where he wasn't sure what route to take to get to where wanted to.

"*Sigh* what a mess…" and so, Naruto proceeded to drown his sorrows in booze and sweets.

So engrossed in his dour thoughts, he kept his mind focused on mechanically eating and drinking, not paying much mind to the voices of others around him.

"Wow… there are a lot of people here… But this isn't really my kind of crowd… and it seems all the tables are taken up…" A female voice spoke somewhere in the bar.

"Sorry for that Madame…" The bartender stated in the background, sounding a bit nervous. "Oh, are you with him… please go right ahead…" he stated, his expression sounding much more exuberant.

Naruto continued to stare into space, unaware of his surroundings, and then suddenly, a voice spoke up from behind him. "Well hello there… mind if I sit here cutie?"

Naruto stared up at the newcomer, his expression slightly confused.

All throughout the night, the two began to talk, Naruto's mood seeming to brighten up as he talked to this woman. They ordered some dumplings for while they talked, and Lena happily got it for them to enjoy.

**12:47:28 AM**

23:32:46:34:58:29:23:49:01:32:46:34:58:29:23:49:12:46:34:58:29:23:49:00: 58:29:23:49:12:46:34:58:29

**Nightmare 2****nd**** Day**

Naruto found himself in a realm that looked like a bloody red haze, wearing his pajamas, a pair of fox ears sticking out of his nightcap on his head and eight fox tails sticking out the rear.

Suddenly, a door opened up in the room, light seeping in, revealing that Naruto wasn't alone, as he was surrounded by men like sheep.

"_**Ah… it's you… well… what are you waiting for fox?**_" The cryptic voice spoke from the other side of the door.

Feeling compelled by some unknown force, Naruto, along with the other sheep, began to make their way toward the door, eventually lining up to exit, or enter.

"_**Come on into the nightmare… *snicker***_"

**To be continued…**

Nobody appears before the audience. "Well, that was quite a day… Also, it seems Naruto has gotten himself in quite a predicament… I would hate to be him right now… and who might this new girl be I wonder…"

Suddenly, an image of Naruto standing in front of a giant three four pronged scale with Sakura on one end, Hinata on another end, a mystery woman standing on a third end, and finally, a giant question mark on the final end.

"And now it is time for the interactive part of this story… here is how it is going to work… Naruto is going to be asked of questions which will determine his fate. What you, the audience, will do is I am going to go ahead and ask you guys the question, and will tally up your answers. Whichever answer has the most will be the one Naruto will answer himself. In other words, Naruto's possible end to this story is in YOUR hands. To be honest, I would appreciate you answered these questions as if you were Naruto… in other words, how do you think Naruto would answer…? However, you can choose to go another route, and vote in a completely OOC way for Naruto, I don't mind…"

Nobody suddenly takes out a card, and puts on a pair of glasses over his mask, and starts reading it.  
>"Here is the first question…"<p>

_**If you had to choose between a friend and a Girl friend, whose side would you take?**_

_**Bro's before Hoes?**_

_**Or**_

_**Love all the way?**_

"I will post the results in the next chapter, as well as the continuation to this story… Till next time…"

**Signed,**

**Mr. Nobody**


	3. SeCoND PuZZLe: The Theatre of Tragedy

In the restaurant known as the Bo Peep Bar and Grill, we see Nobody at one of the tables, his head face down, a laptop next to him. As we pan closer, we start to hear a subtle snoring sound, revealing Nobody to be sleeping, a bit of drool leaking from the mouth piece of his uneven mask. Suddenly, an alarm starts to go off on the laptop that's saying 'SHOWTIME!' promptly waking Mr. Nobody up.

"*splutter* Huh?! What?! I'm awake, I'm awake!" Nobody states, adjusting his mask to properly fit. "Sorry about that… *Yawn* must have dosed off…" He next turns the screen toward the audience. "As we last left Naruto… He is now suffering through the hard consequences and ordeals of a man dating more than one gal… and by the sounds of it, he is hesitating in going in too deep with either girl… and to top it all off, it seems he has just met another woman… I don't know about you guys, but I honestly think this might just be stirring up a stew pot of trouble… anyway, he must now endure another nightmare… so… let's see how he does tonight in the Theatre of Tragedy… Enjoy my fellow readers!"

**-CHaPTeR SeCoND-**

**SeCoND PuZZLe: **_**The Theatre of Tragedy**_

After Naruto and the other sheep had walked through the door, they soon found themselves in another darkened area, nearly bumping into each other as they moved. Suddenly, a spot light lit up, shining down on Naruto and the other sheep, revealing them to be standing on a wooden theatre stage with a red curtain above and behind them. In a black area overlooking the stage they were standing on revealed an infinitely large auditorium with seats, and slowly but surely, black silhouettes began to appear in each seat, white eyes watching the stage, like an audience.

"_**Welcome ladies and gentlemen to tonight's tragic story… please, sit back, and enjoy our feature presentation… **_"The ominous voice from before stated, before clearing their throat and reading out loud, as if from a script.

"_**Ahem…  
>Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep,<br>And can't tell where to find them…  
>Leave them alone, and they'll come home,<br>Wagging their tails behind them… **_"

Naruto stared in bewilderment at how ridiculous this was, while the other sheep were either looking nervous, expectant, or on guard. "What the…?" There was then the sound of a page turning.

"_**Little Bo Peep fell fast asleep,  
>and dreamt she saw them bleeding…<br>But when she awoke, she found it a joke,  
>For they were still a-fleeting.<strong>_"

"Okay, that was messed up…"Naruto commented. Another page turning.

"_**Then up she took her little crook,  
>Determined for to find them…<br>She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,  
>For they'd left their flesh behind them.<strong>_"

"I take it back… THAT was messed up…" Naruto commented again, some of the sheep now giving him an annoyed look, while others looked horrified at the mental visual. Shuffling of pages.

"_**It happened one day, as Bo Peep did stray  
>into a meadow hard by,<br>There she espied their skinned and peeled hides,  
>All of them hung to dry.<strong>_"

Suddenly, from above, scythe like crooks tied by a chain fell from the ceiling, and hung in front of each of the sheep, and Naruto. The floor boards beneath Naruto and the other sheep then broke apart, and they all began to fall down below, plummeting toward a vast and large maze. Naruto looked up to see some of the sheep attempted to grab the crooks, but only succeeded in slicing off their own hands or arms. When Naruto landed in the maze, he found he was in a regular looking corridor with stone walls, the tattooed sheep from last night standing next to him.

"Hey! It's you again!" Naruto yelled out to him.

"Eh? Oh… looks like you made it… not that I care…" The sheep stated.

"Okay… seriously… why is this happening to us?" Naruto asked.

"Talk and run please…" the sheep stated, as he began to run in a random direction. Naruto then followed after him. "Hell should I know… the best I can guess is that we must of screwed up in some way and some higher being thinks we need to prove ourselves worthy to live or something…"

"Man… that is fucked up… But I wonder who I could have pissed off to disserve this!" Naruto commented. The two suddenly ran into a dead end, Naruto looking a bit discouraged. "Ah crap, a dead end. Guess we'll have to find another way…"

The sheep then walked up to one of the walls, placing his hand over an area that seemed a lighter shade of stone than the rest of the wall. He then began to push on it, the sound of stone rubbing against stone being made. Suddenly, the wall began to push back, and slid open like a door, an audible click sound when the wall closed in on another wall, opening a new passage.

"Woah wait… how'd you do that?" Naruto yelled out.

"The lighter shaded walls are movable… although, they block off another path, they can also open newer ones… come on!" The sheep explained, then began to run forward.

"Eh? Wait a second… the walls can be moved? I could have used that info yesterday!" Naruto yelled after him, chasing right behind him, a little peeved from his negligence to give such information.

"Wasn't interested in holding your hand… but since you're going the same way as me, now I have no choice…" The sheep stated.

Naruto growled at that, a slight tick mark appearing on his head and an annoyed expression on his face. 'Selfish asshole…' he thought to himself. They continued to run until suddenly, the sheep grabbed Naruto, halting his run.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Naruto yelled out.

"Look ahead and you'll see…" The sheep pointed down the corridor, mainly the walls.

Naruto looked to see that some areas on the walls ahead of them were that putrid color of green and reddish-pink along with white substance that resembled flesh.

"Not that I give a damn or anything, but if you try to walk past or touch those walls, nightmare zombies will come out of them…" The sheep stated.

"Wait… you mean that those type of walls are where the zombie's come from?" Naruto asked.

"Yep… and unless you want to have to deal with them again… I'd rather look for another path…" The sheep remarked, looking to his right. "Here we are…" He stated as he found another movable wall, and began to push, Naruto now helping him. "Listen… I'll explain more once we get to a Sanctuary…"

"Sanctuary? What's that?" Naruto asked. Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"Shit! Already?! No time… You'll see it soon enough if we can make it… Come on!" Sheep then began to make a mad dash through the new passageway, Naruto following right behind him.

They continued running, the tremor now getting worst, until they passed through an archway that resembled a shrine gate. After passing through the gate, Naruto heard some voices behind them, and turned his head in time to see some sheep trying to run through the shrine gate, but before they were able to make it, the ground beneath them fell, and the two sheep fell to their deaths.

"Why did the ground just fall in that area, and not below us?" Naruto asked in a panic.

"The shrine gates are markers for the ring sections! What just fell was the outer ring section, which slowly deteriorates as the dream goes on! If we don't hurry, this one will be next!" The tattooed sheep stated while running, his head turned back toward Naruto.

They both took right and left turns, trying to find wherever this sanctuary was, before the whole place collapsed. Suddenly, they both stopped as they spotted some marked walls with red cracks lining the passage ahead of them. On the other side of those marked walls was another shrine gate, but behind the gate was a huge wall that continued upward forever, and a stair way leading up the wall, light shining down upon the gate.

"We found the Sanctuary…" The tattooed sheep stated with slight relief. "Problem is… we have to get passed those spike walls…"

"Spike walls? What are those?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing to sweat about as long as you're fast enough… I wouldn't suggest running behind me this time…" The tattooed sheep stated, stretching himself, mainly his legs, and then walked to the edge of the marked walls, getting into a running position.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto inquired.

"It means, whatever happens ain't my fault from here on… good luck to you, unless you want to get impaled… not that I care…" Sheep lazily stated.

Gulping from that information, Naruto quickly stood next to the sheep, and also got into a running position, awaiting the sheep's signal.

"On my mark…" The sheep commented. "If I'm lucky, your worthless body may shield me from getting killed in this…"

"Say what?" Naruto asked.

"GO!" The sheep then began to run, Naruto barely reacting in time to keep up. Suddenly, as they stepped passed the first marked wall, Naruto suddenly heard a click sound, and a second later, spikes appeared out of the cracks on both sides of the wall, and faster than one could perceive, the spikes closed the gap in the passage, nearly impaling Naruto's tails had he not pulled them to the front of his body. As they stepped on to the next marked wall, another click sound resounded, and more blood stained spikes appeared, and closed in on the passage, this time close to Naruto's heels. There was one marked wall left, and Naruto was still lagging behind the sheep in front of him only by inches. Naruto then quickly realized that if he didn't do something, he wouldn't make the last wall, and so, the moment he heard the click, he quickly putt his tails behind his rear onto the ground, and spring boarded forward ahead of the spikes that closed in on one of his tails, causing him to yell in pain as it was impaled.

"GAH! My tail! That fucking hurts!" Naruto yelled out. The spikes then retracted, allowing Naruto to pull back his injured tail, which now looked like bloody Swiss cheese.

"Don't worry… it will heal once we get into the Sanctuary… so suck it up and come on… unless you want to bleed to death… I couldn't care less…" the tattooed sheep commented dryly.

"You could have given me more of a heads up asshole!" Naruto yelled out.

"Eh… I'd figured you're quick enough to figure out something on the fly…" he shrugged, as he made his way toward the Gate.

Naruto shot him a dirty look, and then gave one last look at his gnarled up tail, and then ventured forth, passing through the gate and walking up the stairs into a blinding light.

When the light cleared, Naruto saw he was standing at the steps to a red carpeted platform decorated to look like a ruined Monastery in disrepair.

Looking around, Naruto spotted some more sheep like men, all of them different in some way, shape, or form, and some with pure white fleeces, and others with varying greys of fleece. All of them looked weary, stressed, confused, forlorn, or all of the above. They were now lounging about, taking a rest before continuing forward back into the hell of this nightmare. Naruto remembered his tail, and took a look back to see his once injured tail had been fully healed, no sign of any damage whatsoever.

Naruto looked and spotted the Tattooed Sheep from earlier, and walked up to him.

"Alright… we're at the Sanctuary, now start talking…" Naruto demanded.

"Alright, alright… I guess you should understand the state of things…" The sheep then grabbed a cigarette, lit it up, and began to puff on the smoke. He then grabbed a chip of wooden debris, and started burning the end of it, blackening it. He took the piece of a charcoal, and began to draw a series of circles on a wooden podium set up in the Sanctuary. "Okay… it's like this… each nightmare we go through is actually consisted of layers of levels. These layers are in the shape of circular rings, gradually getting smaller and smaller. As time goes on, the Layers begin to fall off, bringing anyone in that section of the ring down with them until only the final platform is set."

"Okay… I see… so basically, we have to climb to the next ring… wait a second… I don't remember having to climb anything." Naruto commented.

"You don't remember the stairs you just took?" The sheep blandly asked.

"Oh… okay, continue…"

"Anyway… Each ring section is comprised of elaborate mazes with booby traps all over, and they only have 4 exits out of the maze per ring, which lead to the Sanctuaries. The Sanctuary is a safe zone, where time is irrelevant, and you can stay in this place as long as you need to. Most Sheep don't bother ever leaving out of fear of dying, and just wait for the sun to come up."

"I guess that makes sense… but if that is the case, then why chance the maze in the first place?" Naruto queried.

"Well… there is a rumor that the Nightmare only goes on for so long, and if you manage to reach the top, you'll earn your freedom…" The sheep instructed, taking another blow from his cancer stick. "However, no one knows how far they would have to go to be free as the mazes take forever and just keep going on endlessly… the only change that ever happens is the theme of the nightmare. Like tonight is the supposed 'Theatre of Tragedy.'"

"Yeah… what's up with that?" Naruto asked.

The sheep shrugged. "Hell I know… our host must have some kind of sick sense of theatrics, and basically tries to scare the hell out of us. Speaking of, our host is right over in that confessional box." The sheep then pointed over his shoulder toward two boxes, one with a window with the silhouette of a shadowy figure, and the other with a red curtain that was currently pulled back to reveal a wooden seat.

"That's the guy behind this?! Why I ought to!" Naruto then began to march over to the confession booth, the tattooed sheep sighing out some smoke, and then gave a shrug.

"Well, it was nice knowing him… not…" He stated, before lying on the ground and started to lounge. "I think I'll call it a night for tonight, and try to ease my nerves..."

Meanwhile, Naruto began to march up toward the confession booths with anger and ire in his eyes. When he got to the booth with the shadowy silhouette, he began to bang on the window, trying to get the figure's attention. "Hey asshole! I've got a bone to pick with you! Hey! Open up! I'm talking to you!"

The Shadowy figure didn't respond, but started to point toward the booth next door, and taking a hint, Naruto walked in, took a seat, and pulled the curtain for privacy.

"_**Well… look who it is… I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it…**_" the voice spoke to Naruto from out of nowhere.

Naruto look around, only to see there was no way to see the person in charge. "Okay… Why the hell are you doing this to me? Why are you trying to kill me? And what the hell is with all these sheep?!" He angrily asked.

"_**Hmm… I would tell you… however, I think we should set some rules first…**_"

"What do you mean by that?"

"_**How about this… I ask a question, and you answer honestly, and I'll answer a question for you… sound fair?**_"

"This isn't a game you asshole! My life is on the line here!" Naruto yelled, hitting his fist against the wooden wall that separated him and the figure.

"_**Hmph… short tempered, aren't you… alright, be that way, no answers for you…**_"

Naruto then decided to calm down, and reluctantly relented. "Fine… Ask away!" Naruto grumbled.

"_**Very well, here is the question…**_"

_**If you had to choose between your friend and your Girlfriend, whose side would you take?**_

Suddenly, two ropes dropped down in front of Naruto, causing him to jump in surprise, but soon quickly recompose himself. One rope was red and had Friend written on it in white, and the other was Blue, and had Girlfriend written on it in white.

"What the hell kind of question is that?!" Naruto yelled.

"_**Nah uh uh! You can't ask a question until you answer a question… so? I'm waiting.**_" The voice chastised.

Naruto grumbled, and began to think hard on this question. 'Hmm… friend or girlfriend…' He narrowed his eyes in thought, really thinking hard on this question. 'Hmm… well, I guess it really depends on the situation… However, every bond I have so far is precious to me, and so…' Naruto reached his hand out for one of the ropes. 'In all honesty, I would definitely hope that my Girl Friend turns out to already be my friend, so it wouldn't matter who I would end up choosing… but I guess only time will tell.'

Naruto then grabbed the Blue rope with Girlfriend on it, and pulled it down, creating the gong of a bell sound.

"_**Interesting choice…**_" The voice remarked.

"Alright… I answered your question, now answer mine… Why are you doing this to me?" Naruto tried to remain calm, however, his frustration managed to seethe through his voice.

"_**Isn't it obvious? You're being tested… put through a trial to see if you are deserving of life… Just because you saved the world, doesn't mean you are any different from these lost sheep here… not only that, but I can only guess that someone you've met wants you dead…**_" The voice stated.

Naruto's eyes widened at that. He couldn't think of anyone that would want him dead aside from his enemies he made during the war, but considering that most if not all of his enemies had been killed off by said war crossed many candidates off his list. "Someone I've met? That's too vague… tell me something more specific…"

"_**I'm afraid our session is up, and it is time for you to move along now…**_" the voice stated.

"What? Wait! I've got more questions!" Naruto yelled, just before the entire booth he was sitting in shook, and he was launched upwards into the abyss like a rocket. Naruto put his hands on the walls to support his body as the booth jostled about.

**ToTaL VoTeS: 9**

**GiRLFRieND oVeR FRieND: 55.5% FRieND oVeR GiRLFRieND: 44.5%**

When the booth stopped shaking, Naruto pulled open the curtain to reveal that he was back in the maze again, unidentifiable spectators watching within the abyss like stands.

"What the…? But I didn't even get a chance to relax!" Naruto yelled to no one.

He then looked forward and saw that the entrance wall's to the maze happened to be the sickly colored Zombie Walls, meaning Naruto would have no choice but to cross the accursed walls in order to enter the maze.

"Ah crap… these things again… okay…" Naruto then lightly slapped his face two times on both sides to get focused and pumped, and then took a runner's stance. "As long as I can out run them, it shouldn't be a problem." He then took a few deep breaths, keeping focus with his eyes closed, and then in an instant, began to sprint as hard as he could without chakra.

The moment he stepped onto the floor of the first set of walls, suddenly, a bloodied shepherd's crook with a bladed end popped out, positioned to decapitate Naruto's head. Naruto's eyes widened, and relying on his ninja instinct, bent his knees and started to slide under the bladed crook, the sharp tool only catching a few strands of his hair. The moment he was past the crook, he got back to his feet and continued to sprint, only to have to jump over another bloody bladed crook that was slicing at his legs horizontally. He flipped over the attack, and went back into a mad dash, only taking a glance to see what was behind him.

Behind him, the Zombies that came out of the wall this time still looked like undead citizens, however, they were dressed like Sheep herders, only blood stained and holding bladed shepherd crooks, a set of bloody sheep's tails hanging around their necks. Naruto didn't bother to see how many were chasing him, as he knew that if he wasted time to look back, he might end up running into a literal dead end.

He suddenly stepped to the left as the bladed crook came down on where he was standing, and he looked to see that these new Zombies were much faster than the one's he met with last night. They were practically right on his tails, forcing him to pull his tails up to avoid having them minced.

Naruto then turned a corner, and ducked in time to nearly get a bladed crook in his face, as another one was around the corner, and instead the blade struck the zombie that was directly behind him, decapitating its head from its body. Thinking quickly, Naruto used one of his tails to grab the leg of the Zombie that attempted to cut his head off, and pulled it into the air before tossing it back down into the group of zombies behind him, slowing them down.

As Naruto was running, the path way he was taking suddenly converged into another pathway, where 4 more sheep men came out of, nearly bumping into him. These five sheep were pretty plain looking; all of them wearing vests or shirts, and all of them had a light shade of wool. They continued to run alongside Naruto, who looked back to see that they also had Zombie Shepherds chasing after them, adding to the number of undead chasing Naruto now.

Suddenly, one of the sheep men tripped, and when he tried to scramble to stand back up, a bladed crook came around his neck, and managed to decapitate him, his body falling down before the zombie hoard began to trample over his body.

Naruto saw this, and his mind began to think quickly, trying to come up with a plan that would help him to lose the zombies.

Suddenly, he looked ahead, and saw that the group was coming up toward some spike walls, and thinking quickly, Naruto slowed down enough to be running at the same speed as the other three sheep.

"Hey guys! Spike wall up ahead! Get ready to sprint as fast as you can!" Naruto yelled, keeping his pace equal to theirs.

The other three sheep nodded, and once all three made it to the line indicating the spike wall coloring, the four instantly began running as fast as they could, the spikes appearing, and closing in on them. One of the Sheep suddenly stumbled, and as he did, ended up getting impaled along with any Zombies that were directly behind the group. When the three remaining made it, they peered over their shoulder to see the spikes beginning to retract. As it did, they saw the impaled and squished remains of their compatriot, as well as some of the Nightmare zombies, turned into riddled bloody paste. They also managed to take a peek and see that there were still a large number of Nightmare zombies that were waiting for the spikes to fully retract, and so, the three remaining began to hightail it, trying to make as much distance as they could from the soulless husks.

Suddenly, as the group continued running, the ground began to shake again, and they instantly knew they had to double time it and find a shrine arch gate. The shaking began to become more violent, and making it almost much more difficult to run straight, one beginning to lag behind. But the group continued forward, fear and adrenaline pumping them on, and they soon spotted the arch gateway, a red carpeted platform behind it. The group, growing desperate, added more speed to their sprint as the shaking was signifying the outer rim could drop at a moment's notice. Naruto was able to jump through, and so was one other, but then suddenly, the ground then dropped, causing the one who lagged behind to begin falling, the many nightmare zombies already falling to the abyss, soon followed by the sound of many bloody splats. The sheep yelled for a moment, when suddenly, a red fox tail reached down for him to grasp, the sheep now hanging on for dear life.

"Phew… that was close… thanks man…" the sheep stated to Naruto, the owner of the fox tail. Naruto then carefully pulled the man up, and then the three took a moment to catch their breath.

"Sure thing man… no problem…" Naruto stated, beginning to feel his chakra slowly coming back to him again. The three then began to make their way up the stairs to the large, red carpeted platform, and saw they were the only ones who had made it through the maze.

***Dong!* *Dong!* *Dong!***

A loud dinging of a large bell rang throughout the abyss again, and the three instantly went on edge.

"_**Three this time tonight… well, three's a company… so I guess that's an improvement… I guess…**_" The voice resounded.

"Damn it, you ass! Stop this!" Naruto yelled out in anger.

"_**As I have told you, you're all here for a despicable reason or something… and that you must earn the right to escape your fate… so don't blame me for your actions… anyway… ladies and gentlemen… the conclusion of this tragedy…**_" the voice stated, now speaking to the shadowed audience that were observing the entire scene like a spectator sport.

"_**Ahem…  
>It happened one day, as Bo Peep did stray<br>into a meadow hard by,  
>There she espied their skinned and peeled hides,<br>All of them hung to dry.  
><strong>_

_**She heaved a sigh… and wiped her eye,  
>And over the hillocks went rambling,<br>And tried what she could,  
>as a shepherdess should,<br>To burn those who wronged her lambkin…**_"

And yet again, a giant ornate clock appeared over the group's heads, a digital clock in the center of the hands which began moving counterclockwise, and the digital clock began to count down from 12:00:00.

***Dong!***

**11:59:89**

Suddenly, from one of the stairs, a silhouette rose up, stepping closer and closer toward the group. The other two sheep began to hide behind Naruto, but Naruto's eyes squinted in an attempt to see the person approaching them.

"_Cha!_" A voice rang out, causing Naruto's eyes to widen in recognition of the voice.

"No… it can't be…" Naruto stated nervously. "S-Sakura?"

Indeed, it was Sakura approaching them, except she was wearing a red male kimono with black pants, and was carrying a shepherd's crook in one hand. She also had a very angry looking expression on her face.

"_Naruto! I finally attempt to show my affection to you after all these years… and you turn your back on me?! Cha!_" Sakura stated, her voice slightly echoing.

"Sakura! Wait! Let's talk this out!" Naruto pleaded.

"_I'm going to make you pay a hundred times over!_" Sakura yelled out. Suddenly, her eyes began to turn a light red, soon followed by her skin. Steam began to rise off her body, and the sleeves on the arms of the kimono had shredded to pieces, as her body began to bulge in muscle and her height began to increase, the kimono straining to remain on. Her cleavage began to become more exposed, as well as her finely toned legs, and her fit stomach became exposed for all to see. Her teeth then elongated, becoming sharp incisors, her hair becoming wild and long, veins bulging from her forehead, and a long jagged horn growing from the side of her head. She now stood a good 18 feet tall, the shepherd crook having adjusted to her size, now having a wicked looking blade at the end of it, fire now erupting from both the blade and now from Sakura's eyes.

Naruto blanched at the sight of this. 'Holy Crap!'

Sakura then began to stomp towards Naruto and the group. One of the sheep tried running in the opposite direction, the one that Naruto saved earlier, but as he attempted running, Naruto tried calling out to him. "Hey wait, we got to work together!" As soon as Naruto said that, his ninja senses went off, and he and the other sheep barely avoided the bladed flaming crook as it whizzed past them, and struck right through the retreating sheep's back, catching his body on fire, causing great screams of anguish from the burns, and soon, the sheep's body was completely engulfed in flames, everything sizzling and burning, until there was nothing left but a human skeleton, which soon disintegrated to ash, and the smell of burnt flesh. Sakura continued her march toward the remaining two, her hand now emptied from throwing the giant flaming crook.

"_**Naruto!**_" Sakura yelled out, flames licking from the edges of her mouth.

**Fiery Shepherdess Maiden, Nightmare Monster of the Second Puzzle…**

Naruto, seeing what she was about to do, was about to try to jump out of the way of the flames, when a pair of arms suddenly grabbed him. He looked behind him to see that the other sheep was now trying to use him as a human shield, and so, Naruto struggled to try and break free from the grasp, his chakra having not fully recovered enough to use yet.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let me go!" Naruto yelled.

The sheep responded by shaking his head in fear, too scared to face the nightmare in front of him.

In that instant, Sakura blew out a huge gushing spray of liquid fire, which caught both Naruto and the Sheep within the blazing inferno, Naruto and the sheep screaming in anguish and pain. Sakura didn't stop until the screaming died down, and she then finally cut off the flames. When the fire dispersed, all that remained was two scorched silhouettes in the red carpeting, one that was human in appearance, the other which was also human in appearance, but had 8 tails behind it.

"_**Cha!**_" The monstrous Sakura yelled out in victory.

"_**Oh my… can't you go one night without dying?**_" The voice spoke with sarcasm dripping from its statement. "_**Better luck next time…**_"

Suddenly, one of the silhouettes of the tail began to disintegrate, leaving only 7 tails, and in a moment that seemed like time was rewinding, the flames reappeared again, the monstrous Sakura then began to breath the flames back into her mouth, and then the flames were peeled away from an unharmed Naruto's body, and then Naruto's eyes widened in shock. Naruto took a gasp of breath, noticing he was the only one brought back to life, and then quickly jumped into the air to avoid the napalm of flames sent by the monster Sakura.

Sakura cut off the flames, revealing that she burned away a good portion of the carpeting, revealing regular wood underneath. Naruto landed a good distance away, and then, putting his hands together, gathered chakra for his signature Jutsu.

"You might've looked like Sakura, but now I know you aren't! Sakura might physically punish me sometimes… but she would never intentionally try and take my life! **Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Naruto then summoned forth 5 Shadow clones, still not having enough Chakra built up for more, and three Naruto began to charge for the flaming giantess, the other two and real Naruto heading for the Flaming Shepherd's Cane.

The Giant Sakura attempted to spit out liquid flames onto the three Naruto's, but the clones were smart enough to avoid the napalm, and began to take basic maneuvers to avoid any stray shots. When the three managed to get close, Sakura lifted up her foot and managed to slam it down on one of the Naruto clones, dispelling him instantly. The other two clones attempted to jump on her, one grabbing her arm, the other jumping on her leg, and without a weapon and a proper amount of chakra supply, this was all they could really do seeing as she was much more physically stronger than they were. The giant Sakura had a look of annoyance, and lifted her large arm with Naruto into the air, and then slammed him down into the other Naruto clone on her leg, both of them dispelling from this action.

The Giant Sakura then caught sight of Naruto and his clones attempting to lift the giant Crook. She then growled in annoyance, and then spat fire into her hand. She then put her hands together, and giving a pull, had managed to create a long tendril of fire, which she then cracked like a whip, which burned another portion of the red carpeting again. Then, looking toward the group of struggling Naruto's, she cracked the whip, which caught a hold of the crook, and used the whip to pull it back, the flaming blade dragging the ground a bit and leaving a scorch along the carpeting, the Naruto's forced to let go.

'Damn… that thing was heavy… and she's too strong to fight directly, so I'll have to fight indirectly… I just wish I had enough chakra to pull off the big stuff… and where the hell is Kurama when I need him!' Naruto thought to himself.

Sakura grabbed ahold of the flaming crook, and began to twirl it over her head, flames beginning to shoot off from the blade. Naruto and his remaining clones began to try to out maneuver the balls of fire, the flames eating at spots of the carpet. Suddenly, as one clone attempted to avoid a stray shot of the flames, he stepped off the red carpet onto the wooden floor underneath. In an instant, the Shadow Clone vanished in a puff of smoke.

"What?" The Real Naruto questioned, and backed far enough from Sakura to be out of range of her attack. Then, out of curiosity, Naruto took a step onto an area where the carpet was burned off, and instantly, he began to feel his chakra fading. Reacting quickly, Naruto stepped back onto the red carpet, feeling the drain stop, and his chakra attempt to build back up again. 'Okay… so the red carpet allows me to gather my chakra back… but stepping off it causes my chakra to drain. Now I see why I could use chakra here, but not within the maze…' Then Naruto realized what the nightmare was doing. 'Oh shit! She's trying to burn away the carpeting so I won't have any chakra to use! I have to stop her!'

Naruto then formed his hand sign, and summoned forth five clones, and combined with the last Clone remaining, Naruto now had a squad of six. The six of the Naruto's then charged toward the Nightmare Sakura, and evading the balls of fire that were flung their way. Three of the Naruto managed to jump into the air, all three kicking Sakura in the face, causing the giantess to stumble back, before she growled in frustration, and swung out her crook horizontally, all but one of the Naruto clones barely able to escape the attack.

"**How Dare you Naaaruuuuutooooo!**" As she yelled his name, heat began to build up in the back of her throat, and before the two clones could react, a huge blaze of fire shot out at them, dispelling them instantly, and it continued onward, the remaining three clones having to jump to the side, and the real Naruto following their example. When the fire cleared, it revealed the attack had kept going all the way to the end of the stage, burning a huge line of the red carpeting.

'Damn it… at this rate, she's going to burn up the entire floor of carpeting, and I won't have the chakra to protect myself…' Naruto thought to himself.

"**Naruto! How dare you!**" Sakura yelled out, her eyes now bearing a look of betrayal more than anger.

This caught Naruto by surprise. "Gah? Sakura? Wait… What?"

"**How dare you pick her over me?**" She yelled out. She then lifted her crook up, as if readying it to through again. "**Just when I started to see the real you… just when I started to love you… you chose her!**" After that, Sakura then threw the crook, this time giving it a spin, making it resemble a flaming wheel, which raced toward the real Naruto. Naruto reacted accordingly by sidestepping, and watched as the crook flew off the stage.

"Well that gets rid of that…" Naruto then turned in time to see that Sakura was charging him, his clones trying to hold her back but failing. Naruto quickly backpedaled in time to avoid a flaming fist that created a small burning crater in the ground of the stage, the remaining three clones dispelling.

"**If I can't have you, NO ONE WILL!**" She yelled, and began to charge Naruto again.

Naruto was about to backpedal again, when he heard the sound of wind, and quickly jumped to the side to avoid the flaming spinning crook, which had flown back to Sakura's waiting hand.

'Damn, I thought I was rid of that thing… but it came back like a boomerang… wait! That's it!' Naruto thought, his fox like grin coming to his face.

Naruto avoided stepping on the areas of ground that haven't been burned up yet, and tiptoed on the remaining strands of carpeting. 'I'll need whatever chakra I can keep for this!'

"**Shadow clone Jutsu!**" He yelled out, and managed to summon up three more clones. With those clones, all three charged for Sakura, taking care not to step on the bare ground, while the real Naruto began to move toward the other side edge of the platform. The three clones aimed for Sakura's head, avoiding her flailing about, trying to disorient and distract her. The three clones didn't last long, and so, Sakura's eyes glided about the platform until she spotted Naruto.

"**Cha!**" She then hefted the crook again, and threw it in a spin toward the real Naruto, and began to charge toward him again, Naruto easily avoiding the crook again. However, instead of attempting to avoid Sakura's incoming head on attack, Naruto summoned forth two more clones, and stood in place for Sakura until she was a few feet away from the group. Then, the three Naruto's avoided her flaming fists, either jumping over her, or ducking under her attack, all three moving behind her. In her frustration, she turned to face them, her mouth preparing to spit out napalm all over them.

**Shilck!**

Sakura's eyes widened, and looked down to see that the bladed crook at gone through her, coming out from her chest, the fire doused by black blood.

"Now!" Naruto yelled, and he and his two clones charged forward, and using Sakura's disorientation, began to push her toward the platforms edge, using all their might to push her. When it still proved difficult, Naruto quickly summoned another clone, and focused it to kick at the back of her legs, mainly the knees, causing her to cripple, and begin to lose her footing.

Realizing what was happening, the nightmare Sakura began to try and regain control, her hands pushing on Naruto and the clones pushing her.

"Damn it! Fall already!" In desperation, Naruto built up a semi Rasengan, and pushed it into Sakura's chest, which added the final push needed to toss the monster over the edge of the platform. Naruto then plopped to the ground, taking in a deep breath, dismissing his remaining clones. "Sigh… finally… she's down…"

**0:48:09**

"Phew… I was fortunate this copy isn't as smart as the original Sakura… but man, what did she mean when she said that I 'picked her over' her comment… I have picked no one over anyone yet… I'm just glad it is over with…"

Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"What the…?" Naruto commented. He then looked over the edge in time to see a giant flaming feminine hand coming up from the abyss below.

"**CHA!**"

"Gah! Sakura!" Naruto barely backpedaled in time to avoid the hand before it crushed him. The hand was veiny with long nails, and flames were licking at cuts and joints embedded in the hand. Soon appeared a flaming monster with horns that towered over the platform, and although it was covered in flames, the upper part of its head was shadowed and hidden, with only two red blazing eyes showing in the darkness.

"**WE'RE NOT THROUGH YET NAAARUUUUTOOO!**" It then lifted its other hand into the air, and began to swing the fiery hand downward, leaving Naruto very little area to maneuver to avoid it, a searing heat blazing through the platform.

Naruto turned to look, and caught sight that one of his tails had caught on fire, and he desperately began attempting to put the fire out, patting his tail frantically. "Shit shit shit shit shit Shit!"

Naruto looked down, and took notice that all the carpeting had been burned off, and Naruto already began to feel his body feeling restricted and sluggish.

"Shit… I'm done for!" Naruto yelled out, as the hand lifted back up to strike again.

**00:00:01**

***Dong!* *Dong!* *Dong!***

Suddenly, the intricately decorated double door appeared in the center of the platform, bright light shining down upon it once again.

The moment Naruto spotted that door, he made a run for it, ignoring the giant blazing hand racing down to finish him. He ran as fast as his civilian grade legs could take him, and grabbed the handle to the door. Without stopping, he opened the door, the hand only feet above him. Suddenly, light poured in from the door, striking at the giantess, causing her scream in agony, until she exploded into scattered particles. However, as the monster scattered, Naruto swore he heard a sad voice whisper silently, 'Naruto… why…?'

Then began the heavenly choir, singing for his victory, however, Naruto looked sadly to where the monster representation of Sakura was.

"Oh man… Sakura… I… I'm sorry…" He whispered, before he exited through the door.

"_**Congratulations! You made it through the Second night… See you again tomorrow!**_"

23:32:46:34:58:29:23:49:01:32:46:34:58:29:23:49:12:46:34:58:29:23:49:00: 58:29:23:49:12:46:34:58:29

**6:34:15 AM**

Naruto awoke; sweat pouring down his face, now breathing heavily as he lay in the bed.

"Another nightmare…" Naruto stated, putting his hand to his head in frustration. "Damn it… another day ruined…"

Naruto attempted to move out of bed to perform his daily routine, when he found he couldn't budge from his bed. He blinked after a second of realization, and looked down at his left arm to find something wrapped around it tightly. He took a look to find there was a half-naked woman he had never met before lying in bed next to him. She had long red hair by the look of it, that curled near the ends, and had an exotically dark skin tone that made her seem she was from Kumo, only a little lighter. Upon further inspection, he saw that his arm was wrapped around by her arms and being pressed against the cleavage of a pair of F-Cup breast.

Naruto, in his tired state continued to stare blankly at the woman next to him… and then it hit him.

'Gah! Who the hell is this?!' He panicked; sweat now coming down his forehead. Freaking out, he quickly pulled up the covers to check, and sighed in relief to see that not only was she wearing a pair of silk black panties, but he was still wearing a pair of boxers. 'Okay… not a complete disaster… boy… am I glad Sakura didn't walk in on this… but now what? How'd I get into this mess in the first place?!'

His line of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a soft, feminine yawn coming from the occupant next to him. "Yawn… good morning Naruto-kun…" She spoke sweetly, her voice like smooth silk, yet sounded very affectionate. "I had such a great night last night…"

Naruto's mouth widened at this as he really began to freak out, sweat really pouring down his head now. Quickly regaining his composure, Naruto gulped, trying to keep his eyes on the woman's luscious face instead of on her soft, buoyant breasts. "I'm sorry… but… Who the heck are you?! How did you get in here? And what the Hell happened last night?!"

She then cutely chuckled. "Oh yeah… that's right… I didn't give you my name last night… and as for your second question, you let me in…" She said with a sincere smile and a wink. "How rude of me not to introduce myself… especially after you showed me such a wonderful time…" She then sat up on the bed, sitting on her knees, and dipping her head in respect. "Allow me to reintroduce myself… My name is Selana…"

**To be continued…**

**Nobody: Well look at that… finally, the female character has been mentioned… We'll have to see where this will go for Naruto later on…**

**Also, I apologies for not updating lately on anything… hit a major writer's block lately (as well as life throwing every curve ball my way for the past few months…). I really hope that whatever fans I have will forgive me… Anyway, read, review, and enjoy! Also, Happy Halloween!**

**Signed,**

**Mr. Nobody**


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